Thermal transfer printing method and apparatus

Abstract

A thermal transfer printing method and apparatus. The thermal transfer printing method of printing each main line in a unit of a block comprises uniting a plurality of critical data, which exists in the same order in each of the blocks in each of the main lines composing a unit page, to one another, storing the uniting results as a plurality of sub-line data and printing the plurality of stored sub-line data, wherein each of the plurality of critical data is data obtained by dividing data included in each of the blocks by the number of critical dots and each of the plurality of critical data has a number of dots less than or equal to the number of critical dots.

1. A thermal transfer printing method of printing each main line in units of one or more blocks, the method comprising:
 (a) uniting a plurality of critical data, which exists in the same order in each of the one or more blocks in each of the main lines composing a unit page, to one another, storing the uniting results as a plurality of sub-line data and printing the plurality of stored sub-line data; 
 wherein each of the plurality of critical data is data obtained by dividing data included in each of the one or more blocks by the number of critical dots and each of the plurality of critical data has a number of dots less than or equal to the number of critical dots. 
 
   
   
     2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein in step (a), all of the sub-line data is stored, and all of the stored sub-line data is sequentially printed one by one. 
   
   
     3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein in step (a), the sub-line data is printed whenever the sub-line data are stored. 
   
   
     4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises:
 (a1) initializing a variable m that identifies the main lines; 
 (a2) transferring a sheet of paper to a position of an m-th main line which is one of the main lines; 
 (a3) obtaining the number of the critical data included in each of the blocks composing the m-th main line; 
 (a4) uniting the critical data included in each of the blocks to one another in the same order using the number of the critical data, buffering the uniting result as the sub-line data, and printing the buffered sub-line data; 
 (a5) determining whether printing of the unit page has been completed; and 
 (a6) if it is determined that printing of the unit page has not been completed, increasing the variable m by 1 and proceeding to step (a2). 
 
   
   
     5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein step (a3) comprises:
 (a31) initializing a variable n that identifies the blocks composing the m-th main line; 
 (a32) calculating the amount of data in an n-th block among the blocks; 
 (a33) dividing the calculated amount of data in the n-th block by the number of critical dots; 
 (a34) determining whether the total amount of data in the blocks composing the m-th main line has been calculated, and if it is determined that the total amount of data in the blocks has been calculated, proceeding to step (a4); and 
 (a35) if it is determined that the total amount of data in the blocks has not been calculated, increasing the variable n by 1 and proceeding to step (a32); 
 wherein the number of the critical data corresponds to the lowest number among integer numbers greater than the division result. 
 
   
   
     6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein step (a4) comprises:
 (a41) initializing a variable N that identifies the plurality of sub-line data; 
 (a42) initializing a viable B n  that identifies the blocks composing the m-th main line; 
 (a43) determining whether the division result in step (a33) is greater than N−1; 
 (a44) increasing the variable B n  by 1 and proceeding to step (a43) if it is determined that the division result in step (a33) is less than or equal to N−1; 
 (a45) buffering N-th critical data in a B n -th block among the blocks if it is determined that the division result in step (a33) is greater than N−1; 
 (a46) determining whether all of N-th sub-line data among the sub-line data has been composed, and if it is determined that all pf the N-th sub-line data has not been composed, proceeding to step (a44); 
 (a47) latching and printing the N-th sub-line data comprised of the buffered critical data if it is determined that all of the N-th sub-line data has been composed; 
 (a48) determining whether printing of the m-th main line has been completed, and if it is determined that printing of the m-th main line has been completed, proceeding to step (a5); and 
 (a49) increasing the variable N by 1 and proceeding to step (a42) if it is determined that printing of the m-th main line has not been completed. 
 
   
   
     7. The method of  claim 6 , wherein step (a4) further comprises:
 buffering bits of the N-th critical data in the B n -th block as ‘0’ and proceeding to step (a44) if it is determined that the division result in step (a33) is less than or equal to N−1; 
 buffering bits from a first bit number in the B n -th block to a last bit number of a (N−1)-th critical data as 0 and proceeding to step (a45) if it is determined that the division result in step (a33) is greater than N−1; and 
 after step (a45), determining a bit number of last data of the N-th critical data in the B n -th block as the variable F n  and proceeding to step (a46); 
 wherein a bit that does not contribute to thermal transfer corresponds to ‘0’, and in step (a41), the variable F n  is initialized, and in step (a45), buffering of the N-th critical data in the B n -th block starts from a position indicated by a (F n +1)-th number. 
 
   
   
     8. A thermal transfer printing apparatus for printing each main line in unit of one or more blocks, wherein a plurality of critical data existing in the same order in each of the blocks in each of the main lines composing a unit page are united to one another, the uniting results are stored as a plurality of sub-line data, and the plurality of stored sub-line data are printed, and each of the plurality of critical data is data obtained by dividing data included in each of the blocks by the number of critical dots and each of the plurality of critical data has a number of dots less than or equal to the number of critical dots, wherein the thermal transfer printing apparatus comprises:
 a transfer unit, which transfers a sheet of paper to a position of an m-th main line among main lines in response to a first control signal and outputs a signal indicating that the sheet of paper has been transferred; 
 a number checking unit, which calculates the number of critical data from data which is included in each block among blocks composing the m-th main line in response to the signal indicating that the sheet of paper has been transferred; 
 a buffering and printing unit, which unites a plurality of critical data included in each of the blocks to one another in the same order using the calculated number of critical data, buffers the uniting results as a plurality of sub-line data, prints the plurality of buffered sub-line data, and outputs a signal indicating that printing has been performed; and 
 a first printing completion checking unit, which checks whether printing of a unit page has been completed in response to the signal indicting that printing has been performed, and outputs a checking result as the first control signal. 
 
   
   
     9. The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the number checking unit includes:
 a data amount calculation portion, which calculates the amount of data in an n-th block among the blocks in response to a second control signal; 
 a division portion, which divides the calculated amount of data in the n-th block by the number of critical dots; and 
 a calculation completion checking portion, which checks whether the total amount of data in the blocks composing the m-th main line has been calculated, and outputs a checking result as the second control signal; 
 wherein the buffering and printing unit buffers the plurality of sub-line data in response to the second control signal, and the number of critical data corresponds to the lowest number among integer numbers greater than the division result. 
 
   
   
     10. The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the buffering and printing unit includes:
 a remaining data checking portion, which compares a division result with N−1 (where N is a variable that identifies the sub-line data) in response to the second and third control signals, outputs a comparison result as a fourth control signal, and adjusts a variable B n  in response to the fourth control signal; 
 a buffering portion, which buffers N-th critical data in a B n -th block among the blocks in response to the fourth control signal and outputs a signal indicating that buffering has been performed; 
 a line data composition checking portion, which checks whether all of N-th sub-line data among the sub-line data has been composed in response to the signal indicating that buffering has been performed, and outputs a checking result; 
 a latch and print portion, which latches the N-th sub-line data comprised of the buffered critical data in response to the checking result input from the line data composition checking portion to print the N-th sub-line data and outputs a signal indicting that printing has been performed; 
 a second printing completion checking portion, which checks whether printing of the m-th main line has been completely performed in response to the signal indicating that printing has been performed, and outputs a checking result as a fifth control signal; and 
 a control signal generating portion, which generates the third control signal in response to the fourth and fifth control signals and a checking result input from the line data composition checking portion; 
 wherein the first printing completion checking portion checks whether printing of the unit page has been completed in response to the fifth control signal. 
 
   
   
     11. The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the buffering portion includes first through N′-th (where N′ is a maximum number of critical data existing in each of the blocks) buffers, and the N-th (1≦N≦N′) buffer enabled in response to the fourth control signal buffers N-th critical data in a B n -th block among the blocks. 
   
   
     12. The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the buffering and printing unit further includes a variable determination portion, which determines a bit number of last data of the N-th critical data in the B n -th block as a variable F n  and outputs the determined variable F n , wherein a bit that does not contribute to a thermal transfer corresponds to 0, and the buffering portion buffers all bits in the B n -th block as 0 or buffers bits from a first bit number in the B n -th block to a last bit number of a (N−1)-th critical data as 0 in response to the fourth control signal and starts buffering the N-th critical data in the B n -th block from a position indicated by a (F n +1)-th number.